Hyu's Adventures

Plans

What the fuck am I doing?
I'm feeling awkward... anxious? eerie. Yes, that's the right word, eerie. I feel overwhelmingly eerie.
I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel, given that I might loose everything, and that is immensely irritating.
And then I had the glorious idea to take that orb, which I was told would inevitably lead to my death.
I'm confused as to why I have made that choice. It seemed obvious at the time, but I just don't understand.
Perhaps it was because I am desperate. Perhaps it was to put and end to this feeling of eeriness.
Or perhaps, deep down, I know what I'm doing. Maybe. Hopefully?
One thing is for certain. The decision I've made is final. There is no going back. There is only one path left to walk.
From now on there are no more choices to be made, and that is somewhat of a relief.

I arrive on the central platform in Riven on Teraluna, where everyone is waiting for me.
The city feels abandoned. The animals have gone. I don't like it. It doesn't feel like home right now.
It's nice to see the old gang together though, although I wish it was under different circumstances.
Yuya, Shinave, Silver... even Ifrit is here? That is unexpected.
Everyone is eagerly waiting for me to explain what is going to happen next.
What am I going to say?

But then all of a sudden, looking at everyone, I gain an immense burst of confidence.
Everyone has so much confidence in me. They trust me completely. They know that we stand no chance whatsoever to survive the battle that is ahead.
But they are smiling. Well, when I say everyone, I mean everyone besides Ifrit. Clearly he doesn't want to be here.
And saying that he would have any confidence in me whatsoever is ridiculous. He hates me.

I take a deep breath. What's the plan, now that I have the orb?
Yes... that's how we're going to do it...

"Silver... do you still practice sealing techniques.""Yes. What do you have in mind?"
"How well could you seal off this area?""The entire platform?"
"Yes...""Hmmm..."

He thinks about it for a bit.

"If focus solely on that and noting else, I can give you an interdimensional seal covering the entire platform for a few minutes..."
"15, maybe 20?"

That is impressive. I never expected him to be able to do that much. Not with such a high level sealing technique.
This might work... sort of. It's all going to depend on me.

"Alright... I have a plan."

The magic words.

"The templars are all united in the same location, scanning for our auras."
"They know the rough location of Teraluna, but even though they are immensely far away, they have not come any closer."
"This leads me to assume that they have access to a gate, and they plan on dialing in once they have our location."

Silver points at the gate on the platform we're on.

"An ancient gate?"
"Yes.""Indeed... I suppose they are capable of using the old network. And it's not like the cities barrier will provide much protection against them."
"Using the gates they also won't waste any energy to get here... What do you want to do? Block the gate?"

Heh.

"Quite the contrary.""Oh?"

I see some slightly confused faces.

"We're going to send them an invitation. Show them right where we are, and open the gate ourselves."

Everyones eyes are opening widely.
And then I smile.
And then everyone else smiles.
Except for Ifrit of course.

"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?"

I ignore him.

"When I give you the sign Silver, seal off the entire platform for as long as possible."
"Yuya, Shinave, protect Silver. The seal must not be broken."

They nod.

"Ifrit... are you in or out?"

Silence.
He draws a fire portal behind himself and turns away.
Shinave is clearly disappointed by these actions.

"You're going to run away?"

Considering that he's one of the ancient gods, that was very offensive.
But clearly he doesn't give a fuck about my opinion. I am no god. I am a lesser being.
He would have killed me long ago would it not be for Shinave to have urged him not to do so.

"Should you survive this day due to some miracle, know that I will end you."
"For what? Trying to save Teraluna while you run away?""It's all your fault. EVERYTHING is your fault."

Shinave intervenes. "It isn't."
He hates it. All gods should always side with him. After all he was the leader of the council of gods.
Which interestingly did actually fall apart because of me. That was my fault. In my defense though, it was beyond corrupt.

"At least I'm not hiding in the godly realm while the fate of Teraluna is decided."

His eyebrows twitch in anger and he leaves through his portal. He doesn't want to hear any more of it.

"I'm not sure what I was expecting, bringing him here."
"It was worth a try."

"So, when do we do this?" Yuya asks."As soon as everyone is ready. I have taken some actions that have kind of decreased the time we have left to deal with this.""Good. Let's end this once and for all."

She smiles.
Yes. The time is now. I can feel it.
I nod at silver and he begins to prepare the seal.
He cuts into his left hand with a dagger, and draws some sort of incantation on the floor using his blood.
He then puts a bandage on it and sits down in a meditative pose.
Finally, he gives me a nod. He's ready.
Seven spheres of water appear around Yuya, who gives me the same nod.
And so does Shinave.
I summon my katana and wear it on my back, since I will no longer be able to summon it once the seal is up.
Show time.

After many weeks of having to hide my aura, I can finally power it up again.
I let the energy flow through my body freely. It feels so good. So refreshing.
I immediately sense the auras of all 12 Templars locking onto us.
Teraluna is found.